Newcastle North Labour MP Catherine McKinnell appears to be determined to go against the predominantly Brexit views of her constituents.

Along with another 48 Labour MPs she has voted against the Labour Party whip. She voted to block a real Brexit by supporting Chuka Umunna’s amendment to the Queen’s Speech to stay in the single market and customs union. This would fly in the face of the referendum result and would mean continued free movement of people, in short uncontrolled immigration from other EU countries.

The Queen’s Speech debate exposed Labour’s Brexit policy as a shambles. Jeremy Corbyn was forced to sack three shadow ministers after they defied his orders not to back a ‘soft’ Brexit. The Labour leader has been accused of cynically trying to face both ways on Europe. He is desperate to keep the support of both the party’s Brexit-backing Northern heartlands and pro-Remain cities such as London. But he suffered a humiliating rebellion when a fifth of Labour MPs supported an amendment to the Queen’s Speech calling for Britain to remain in the EU single market and the customs union – in effect demanding that the UK continue to be controlled from Brussels.